Katharine Teisseire lives in Metz, a picturesque city in northeast France, but works in the finance industry across the border in Luxembourg, one of Europe’s greatest financial capitals. In her free time, the 34-year-old mom of two enjoys baking and writing children’s stories.

Her son’s fourth birthday was approaching and Katharine wanted to give him something personal and unique. She wrote an imaginative rhyming children’s story entitled ‘The Pabalu Tree’. It follows the adventures of a little orphan named Roy, who sets on a journey to find a new home. “The Pabalu Tree is a story I have imagined for my redhead son. I wanted to create a story with a redhead main character,” Katharine said, wanting a protagonist her young son could identify with.

The story went down such a treat with the birthday boy that Katharine wanted to turn it into a picture book he could treasure forever. However, finding the perfect illustrator to bring the characters to life was a tougher job than Katharine expected. “I have been searching for an illustrator on the Internet for weeks with no success,” she explained, “I have received crazy quotes, or sometimes no answers at all. I also felt like no one was interested to work with an unknown writer.”

Having no success with local artists, Katharine then looked further afield, and stumbled upon Freelancer.com. She took a chance and published her project.

The response she got was astonishing. Within minutes of posting her project, Katharine received dozens of messages from professional illustrators from all over the world. She was able to browse their portfolios at her leisure until she found the perfect style for her story. “I was looking for a talented artist with a unique style,” Katharine said.

That talented artist turned out to be Mariana, an illustrator based in Ukraine. Katharine thoroughly enjoyed the collaboration process, praising Mariana for her professional and helpful approach to the task. “She immediately offered to send me a sample,” Katharine said, grateful for the freelancer’s efficiency. Mariana took into account all of Katharine’s requests and made modifications to the illustrations whenever it was necessary.

“We started a fabulous collaboration, which ended up in a great book!” Katharine stated, delighted with the outcome of the project, “My grandmother was actually born in the city Mariana lives in - Lviv, Ukraine. As I have Eastern European roots, I did not feel like she was located far from me at all. Her style just perfectly matched my writing.”

Katharine was also impressed by the user friendly nature of Freelancer.com and how easy it made every step of the process. “Doing it locally would be at least 5 times more expensive for a basic offer with less details,” she said, “And I will with no hesitation use Freelancer.com again.”

One thing that particularly stood out to Katharine was the ability to split the payments into milestones, and release them at specific stages in the project. “That helps to create a trusting environment,” she said.

Katharine loved how her creation came to life. She was so pleased with the finished book that she has decided to self-publish and make it available to more readers. Her book, ‘The Pabalu Tree’, is now available for purchase on Amazon.

I run International Marketing Communication campaigns at Freelancer.com, based in the London office. I also lead Freelancer's Case Study Program, where we write inspirational success stories of employers and freelancers around the world. When not busy working or organising tech & design networking events, I enjoy exploring the globe.

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